20/10/2020
Taking the UK's lead, Australia can learn from ongoing clinical trials into how medicinal cannabis can assist with mental health problems.
One year since UK law changed to enable medical cannabis to be prescribed, researchers are exploring the drug’s potential for treating PTSD and ADHD.
Currently, the strongest evidence for use of medical cannabis is for treatment of intractable seizures in two severe forms of childhood epilepsy, Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes; chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting; controlling spasticity in multiple sclerosis; and for managing chronic pain.
It is estimated that 1 million people in the UK currently self-medicate with cannabis for a variety of conditions, suggesting there is a demand for its legalisation of various conditions.
PTSD and ADHD are two emerging areas in which medical cannabis is starting to show some promising results, although evidence is still limited and further robust trials are desperately needed.
A Doctor in the United States, Sue Sisley has started clinical trials to determine whether cannabis can be put through the FDA as a botanical product. “It is a new experience for the FDA to work with botanical medicine. We’re trying to persuade it that, [even though the cannabis plant is] green and leafy, it’s still a medicine,” says Sisley.
“The beauty of the cannabis plant is that it’s so complex. There are hundreds of different cannabinoids, terpenoids and flavonoids, all working together synergistically. For the FDA, that’s a different paradigm and we have to bring [the agency] along.”
Clinical trials are being conducted to determine the effectiveness of treating patients with mental health problems.
Part of our mission is to support clinical trials in Australia and prove how medicinal cannabis can support people as the best alternative solution.
Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal - 31 October 2019
One year since UK law changed to enable medical cannabis to be prescribed, researchers are exploring the drug’s potential for treating post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.